This Ancient Forest in Sonoma is Rad as Hell

(Paolo Bicchieri)

When I was a kid, my grandma would take me to the petrified forest museum in Vantage, Washington, out amongst the brown, dusty fields abutting the Columbia River Gorge. I was mystified — wood, but it’s rock. Over millions of years, the actual molecules inside the felled trees finds itself interlaced with sediment, mineral, ash, and stone. It’s super badass, and running my little kid hands over the deceptively smooth petrified wood was jaw-droppingly cool. That’s why Calistoga’s Petrified Forest is well worth a visit.

Just 70 miles north of San Francisco lies one of the Bay’s only sites to examine huge ancient Redwood trees, known as Sequoia langsdorfii. The museum and series of trails is 70 miles away of another major landmark: Mt. St. Helena, the volcano that erupted 3.4 million years ago and created all this natural beauty, according to the Petrified Forest’s website. Admission to check out the patches of ash and plentiful petrified trees is only $12 for an adult ticket, ensuring for a good time meandering through the half-mile or so of low-impact walking. Basically, this is a rad place to spend an afternoon in wine country, heading over after grabbing a fancy pastry in Healdsburg.

(Paolo Bicchieri)

My partner, gorgeous as she may be, is not the main focus here. Everything she’s standing on is ash from a volcanic eruption millions of years ago. (Paolo Bicchieri)

Though the gates close to California historical landmark #915 at 5 p.m., that gives guests plenty of time to check out everything there is to see. The forest itself wasn’t even discovered until 1870 when the ridiculously-nicknamed miner Charles “Petrified Charley” Evans stumbled upon the prehistoric of anaerobically-preserved flora. Silica filled all the space inside the trees as any bacterial growth was denied by the layers of ash and rock. That’s a mini science lesson on petrification, for what it’s worth.

The largest single tree in the forest is The Queen; this photo only captures part of her 65-foot-long glory. (Paolo Bicchieri)

The museum and forest’s website goes on to say numerous academics and landowners changed hands of the property for decades, but it was Ollie Bockee in 1914 who took the property into its educational and public-facing future. Though a fire devastated parts of the area a few years back, In my book, the coolest reason to visit might be The Queen, the largest single tree still in-tact and nearly as long as a seven-story building is tall. The ash deposit on the Meadow Trail is worth seeing, too. And, if you can’t swing a trip just yet, the Petrified Forest’s Instagram is an adorable follow.